Plaiting machine



L. ANGELUS Jan. 20, 1931.

PLAITING MACHINE Filed March 23. 1929 INVENTOR v A ATORNE Patented Jan. 20, 1931 l outrun-seams LOUIS ANGELUS, or NEW YQR Q N. 1 I

i airman PLAITING MACH Application filed March 23, 1929. {Serial no. 349,509.

lWIy present invention relates. generally to plaitingmachines, and has particular reference to that type of machine wherein goods are preliminarily treated prior to final "5 steaming subjectionor the like. u For the purpose of expla ning the nature of my present invention, 1 have-herein illustrated and shall hereinaiter describe the same as applled to {1;1112161111'18 which is designedto sandwich a piece of'goods' to" be.

.plaitedbetweentwo layers of paper or the like and to impart a'so-ca-lled plaitedronfiguration to the sandwiched assembly, In a machine of this character, pair of reciproeating members or knives are adapted to grip the three-ply assemblyin an intermittent manner and at successive portions thereof to force .the same forwardly and thereby form a loop, the assembly thereafter passing between a pair of rollers which serve to crease the paper layers and thereby impart a temporary configuration to the goods. In combination with the foregoing, means are provided for guiding asupply of sheet me.-

terial into proper association with two layers of paper and thence toward the reciprocat ing knives. I

WVhere'plaiting is accomplished in the foregoingmanner, the purpose of the paper layers is to retain the fabric between theln in' thecontemplated creased form for at least a temporary period of time during which the i creased assemblymay be suitably rolled and subjected to .a final steaming operation. In

5 order to facilitate the temporary retention" of the properly formed creases, it has "been customary. to heat one of thelrollers mentioned, as for example, by means of steam;

, i p I have found that certain materials of 4oitough or hard texture, such as rayonjl'or: example, do not lend themselves readily to the preliminary creasing above mentioned. 'Itis one object of my present lnvention to provide a plaiting machine whereby the in-" 45,-itial creasing ofrsuchrelamvely hard fabrics 1 is facilitated: v

It is also well known that other types of fabrics, such "as the relatively soft and pli able silks and chifions, donot require f'the sesame amount of ultimate steaming for the purpose 'of producing commercially satisfactory results. Another object of my in-' vention-is' to provide a machine 1 whereby such softma'teri alsmayyif desirecL-be" cont pletely treated without I; necessitating the. usual ultimate subjection to steam treatn'ient. Briefiy, my invention resides in the pro} vision of a pre-steaming arrangement,

whereby1the goods to be'plaited is eficiently; it

and. controllably subjected-to the softening a action-cf steam prior to the time that'it' is initially creased by the reciprocating'membersni'entionedi V Inasmuch asmanytypes of material become ,objectionablydiscolored under 'theaction ofwater,and'particularly where they are subjected to uneven'or irregular amounts of water, it is an object of'm'y invention to provide means for subjecting the goods to the p're-steaniin-g operation without danger 7 of spotting-ordiscoloring the materi'al by i irregular application of steam or by condensation-thereof. o v 1 r It-is a general objectto provide a device which is extremel fsimp'le in' construction 75. and hence inexpensive froma'manufacturingstandpoinhthe construction being practicallyioolproof andbeing, capable of uniformly" satisfactory operation even by comparatively unskilled operators. I I

F or the attainment of the LEOI'QgOiIlg-ObQ: jects and such other. iflrijects as may herein- 1 after appear or be pointed-out, I have illustrated several forms of my inventionin the accompanying drawingswherein Figure 1 isa diagrammatic elevational view ofaplaiting machine with which my present invention has been associated; Y 1

F'g, ref2 is a cross-sectional View through my improved pie-steaming device,the center portion having been broken away for lack o H I up, 1 V

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view taken substantially along the line;-33 of Figure 2',

Figure dis fragmentaryinverted plan view on a reduced scale of a modification V tra-tion the supply of sheet material to be plaited is illustratively positioned in a box or container 10 from which it is led upwardly as at 11 over a work table 12, usually of wood or the like; A suitable guide roller '13 maybe provided on the forward edge of the guide roller 20, the material to be plaited' being sandwiched between the paper layers. From the roller 20-the three-ply assembly is guided toward a pair of superposed rollers- 21 and 22, these rollers operating intermittently 1n the d rection of the arrows. A short distance in advanceof the rollers 21 and 22,

a pair of reciprocating knives or members 23 and 24 are" provided, these members being shown in Figure 1 at the eXt-remeleft end of their travel. At this point, they are auto 'matically closed to grip the three plies between them and they are thereupon advanced toward the right to form a loop of material on the left side of the rollers 21 and 22. As

the latter then rotatebya slight degree to.

grasp and advance the looped portion between them, the knives 23 and 24 open to release the loop and travel back to, the position illustrated in Figure 1. 'As aresultgof the foregoing operation, automatically effected in a step by step manner,thethree'-ply assembly assumes a .plaited configuration as shown at 25, this preliminarily creased assembly being guided downwardly and received upon a table or the like 26. At the lower end of the latter it, may beconveniently rolled up as at .27 whence it .is ultimately taken in compactly rolled form for subjection to a final steaming operation- To facilitate the guidance ofthe creased assembly 25 on its way to the table 26, it is customary to, provide a belt 28 extending around the roller 21 and held downwardly upon the assembly 25 by means of a weighted roller 29 loosely received in the free loop" of the belt 28. I

Although the paper by its nature readily partakes of any crease that may be imparted thereto, it is advantageous to' heat-the roller 22 as by means of steam supplied from a con duit 30 and a pipe31;

In acccordance with plaiting operation of the members 23 and 24 andthe rollers 21 and 22. I accomplish this a by providing'a steam tabledesignated by the reference numeral 32 in Figure l and prefmy present invention, I provide means for pre-steam ngfthe goods 11 prlor toits SHbJBClllOIl to thecreasmg or erably positioned between the work table 12 and the guide roller 20. The paper web 16 is brought upwardly around the left end of the table 32, as indicated, whereby it is caused to underlie the sheet 11 as the latter passes over the table 32'. The steam employed by the table 32 may advantageously be supplied by a pipe 33 leading from the conduit 30 and provided with a control valve 34.

In Figures 221ml 3 I have illustrated the features of the table It consists essentially ofa top surface over which the sheet 11 passes, of a chamber suitably arranged be-,

neath such top surface, of means for supplying steam 'to such chamber'and ejecting it upwardly through the sheet passing thereover, and means for retaining the entire top surface in a constantly heated condition to prevent any condensation thereon.

In the construction which I prefer to employ, whereby the contemplated advantages of my invention are satisfactorily carried out,

I provide a sheet-metal ;top portion 35 of V substantially inverted-U cross-section, most clearly shown in Figure 3. Acomplementary bottom portion 36 is provided which is of substantially upright-U cross-sect1on,-the upwardly disposed arms34- of the, portionf36 belngdesigned to nest with the downwardly extending sides 38 of the top portion In thisway, a chamberis provided which is co extensive in length with the top surface of the portion 35, measuring length in the direction of travel of the sheet 11.

At its midportion, the bottom 36 is prowhose depth is preferably made to 'varyias shown in Figure 2. r i

The portion'36, although coextensivewith the portion 35 in length, as this term has been defined above, is not coextensive in the lateral direction with the portion 35, for a. purposepresently to be described. Accordingly,

a sheet-metal endplate 40 is provided to seal theleft end ofa chamber referred to (as I viewed in Figure 2), and a similar sheet metal endplate 41 isprovidedwith the'opposite side. V I

The pipe 33 1s.brought 1nto association with the foregomg device by meansof an" elhow 42 from which a pipe/43'extendsthroughf theend wall 40 and across the entire device as shown in Figure2. The pipe 43 E is positioned within the channel 39 as shown in Figure3, andis provided with a dead end 44.; Furthermore, the pipe 43 is provided with apertures 45 on its lower portion, whereby" steam may pass outwardly through the aper s .tures 45 andv into the chamber. defined by the portions 35and 36. Any condensed moisture in the steam willpass along the notch of the; channel 39 and [will ultimately be led off througha suitable drain 46 arranged atthe lowest end of the channel. The drain 46 is provided with no valvewhatsoever'so that: T i- V 1 vided with a V-shaped trough or channel 39 I the channel 39, the top surface of the portion 35 is provided with a series of openings or apertures 47. Steam will emerge from these apertures and will thus be caused to pass through the sheet 11 during the passage of the latter over the table 32. By properly controlling the valve 34, the amount of steam thus entering and pre-steaming the sheet 11 may be controlled. At the same time, it is to be noted that the entire chamber beneath the top wall of the table is constantly filled with steam and that the top surface is thereby continuously retained in a heated condition. This precludes any possibility of'condensation upon'the exterior'surface, the collection of which in pools of water or otherwise would cause discoloration and other serious impairment of the material 11, not to speak of the annoyance and sloppiness which wouldbeentailed. The chamber in this way constitutes not only a reservoir for the steam actually to be employed in pre-steaming the material,

. but serves the additional function of heating the top. surface over which the material is passing; and I consider this an important feature of my present invention because of the danger, in the absenceof such provision, of damaging the material and rendering the machine unsatisfactorilyusable, as outlined above.

This feature of my invention is carried out to a further extent in connection with the mounting of the table as a" whole. This mounting is accomplished as illustrated most ends of the top portion 35 I .provide blocks clearly in Figure 2 an'd'involves the shortening of the bottom portionf36 as previously referred to. Beneath the extreme lateral blocks 48 and into association with suitable brackets 51 provided'on the framework of the machine. The continuous presence of steam in the main chamber beneath the top surface of the table serves to heat not only the top surface in direct contact with the steam, but also the end plates 40 and 41, and by means of conduction the extreme lateral ends of the top portion 35 are maintained at a degree of heat sufficient to prevent any condensation thereon. The metallic blocks 4:8

serve not only to facilitate the mounting of the table but also to maintain the upper surface in conductive relationship with the heated chamber, In order to control the quality of the steam leaving the chamber from the openings 47,- it may in certain cases be desirable to reconstruct the-pipe 43 with a looped construction of the character illustrated in Figure =4. In 7 this form,,a pipe -52enters thechamber and is .thenidoubled back uponitself to provide the;

threellengthsl53,'54, and..55. Adead end 56 is providedas before, butzonlylthe length 551is this way beLrendered.satisfactory for causing an egressrfrom the top surface-of thetab'l'e of a'comparatively dry steam.

In Figure 5, I have, illustrated av further modification wherein the: qualityor relative dryness of the steam may be controlled and altered from time to timezas-conditions may require.- 1 In this embodiment, a pipe 57 is provided'of a single-length as shownin Figures 2=and-3; and an'entirelyindependent;

loop .or'co'il 58 having an inletf'a't 59 and an outlet at 60-is causedto pass into LI1'Cl OI1l3fOZE the chamber soas to provide the addltional heat to the steam occupyingithe chamber. A

suitable valve or valves:(not shown) .maybe manipulatedto control the amount jof-ssteam passing through the coil 58, andthe amount of such steam may bealtered to varyand con trol the particular quality or relative dryness of the. steam emanating from thelength 157 *A- machine constructed in accordance with my invention is highly satisfactoryfor treatment with all types of materials, including the relatively stiff or hard materials such as rayonfgiTh'e" pre-steaming of the material renders it more easily susceptible to'the action of the members23 and 24 and the rollers 21. and 22. A machine of this character is also capable of commercially plaiting soft materials, suchas silks or chilfons, without any necessityfor subjecting the same thereafter to further steaming treatment. I have found that the pre-steamingeifected by the table 82 is sufficient in the case of relatively soft ma ,terials to produce a commercially complet'e result at the roll 27 of Figure 1.

., In general, it will be obvious that the machine facilities the plaiting of materials, re-

operated,reliable, and devoid ofsuch faulty;

design oromission of essential parts as might otherwise cause a step of pre-steaming to have injurious effects upon the material.

In general, it will be obvious that changes. in the details herein described and illustrated for the purpose of explainingthe nature of theseidetails be interpreted as illustrative, V

and not in a limiting sense I Having th'usdescribed my invention and il- 'lustrated its use, what I claim asnew and desire to secure by Letters Patent isa 1. In a pre-steaming plaiting machine, a plaiting device, means for guiding a sheet of material to be plaited toward said device and including a steam table over which said sheet passes, said table comprising a sheet metal top portion of inverted-U cross-section, and a complementary sheet-metal bottom portion of upright-U cross-section; a V-shaped channel in saidbottom portion, and a conduit in i saidchannel having downwardly directed apertures; whereby steam supplied to said conduit will pass from said apertures into the chamber defined by said portions, and Where? by the top surface of said top portion Willbe i heated thereby. 2. In a pre-steaming plaiting machlne, a plaiting device, means for guiding a sheet of material to be plaited toward said device and including a steam table over which said sheet passes, said table comprising a sheet-metal top portion of inverted-U cross-section, a complementary sheet-metal bottom portion of upright-U cross-section, said port-ions defining a chamber for the reception ofsteam, said bottomportion being shorter in lateral length than said top portion, and fastening blocks of heat-conductive material associated with the lateral ends of said top portion; whereby the entire exposed upper surface of said table may be retained'in heated condition to prevent condensation thereon.

In Witness whereof I have signed this specification this 14 day of March, 1929.;

' LOUIS ANGELUSL 

